Plamo Addiction

October's Gundam Pictures - Round 2

2009-11-11T14:15:00.001+09:00

4048401502_3fcb0556a2_o
Originally uploaded by Busterbeam

This is the batch from my work computer. Yes I look at Gundam stuff at work. Don't tell my boss. Wait... I am the boss!
*cue evil uproarious laughter*

October's Gundam Pictures

2009-11-10T19:36:00.001+09:00

4054457193_70604cf060_o
Originally uploaded by Busterbeam

Time for the flickr file dump. This is all the stuff that I collected in October.

CB-0000G/C Reborns Gundam/Cannon & CBY-001 1 Gundam

2009-11-10T00:57:00.004+09:00

I was never a big fan of this MS but after seeing this repaint of the HG model I'm starting to change my mind.

To be honest I started to gain a lot more interest in this suit after learning about the "1 Gundam".

What do you think?

I really liked the design of this for some reason. I thought the 2 sided MS idea was kind of silly but I do like the basic MS design by itself. I'm glad they made this and if a HG model of it is made I think I'd like to pick it up.

Love the default colour scheme!
Apparently it's pronounced "AI Gundam" as in 愛 like love. wtf?!

From ガンプラの山を崩せ. Check out his site. He has done some amazing recolours. Great photography too!

This bazooka is done. - Part 2

2009-11-07T12:53:00.004+09:00

Here's the rest of the work that I've done on the bazooka. I've decided that I have just a little bit further to go on it but that's just fixing up that nagging crack in the muzzle.

Unrelated, I wanted to use up all of my 'loose' decals (as in decals that were no longer attached to the main decal sheet) and put an extra one on the shoulder armour that I'd removed earlier. It was just laying around so... why not? Thanks to Gaijin Gunpla again for hooking me up with these.

You may remember about my recent problem with the cobwebs. Well after wiping it down with my thumb a bit, I was left with a semi-decent surface result that I was satisfied with. I was originally going to spray a clear green over it but decided against it. It's not so bad as is. It's subtle and the green would really stand out a lot. I'm not even sure what the dome thing is supposed to be anyways. Maybe like a radar/tracking type of device?

Details in silver enamel and Gundam Marker silver.

Using up the decals.

More detailing. Just because I can.

Decided to use some Aurora decals on the beam rifle. It looks SO good. Also painted the tubing/wiring in silver.

I actually spent a lot of time on the bazooka shells. I ran out of certain decals so I couldn't make them all the same but I can easily account for that in the story that I'm going to make for it. This was one of the first things I did for the bazooka. I wanted the shells to really stand out and I spent a lot of time cementing, sanding and puttying to remove the seam lines. I wanted them to have a uniform surface. By scale these shells are taller than a human being!

More decals. Just because

All assembled. I'm pretty happy with the finished result. Worthy of my machine.

This bazooka is done. - Part 1

2009-11-05T12:55:00.004+09:00

In order to fix the cracking problem I mentioned before, I broke the piece off out right and then cemented it back in.

Sanded but didn't prime again.

First time using Aurora stickers for the lenses.

The result. I love them!

Bazooka details. Used just regular enamel paints. I realized that I actually painted it in the wrong shade of gold and had to repaint using the same Gundam marker that I used on my Sinanju. I did do panel and detail lining in regular enamel gold though.

Extra water slide decals courtesy of Gaijin Gunpla, who kindly sent me his extra decals in the mail. Thanks for that man! I did put some of them to use! Also this was my first time using mark setter and softer. I swear by the Mr. Mark Softer now. Love it!

If you look carefully you'll see that the broken piece started to crack again once I put it back on the bazooka. Oh well. Now I'm deciding whether I should fix it or just cut my losses and leave it alone.

Went a bit decal crazy, but I had them to use so... why not! But I did use up a lot of the extra decals I had laying around so at least they didn't go to waste.

I wanted my bazooka to be specific for the EE. As you can probably tell... this bazooka won't match up with any other Sinanju but my own.

Loving the Unicorn's Transformation Sequence

2009-11-03T23:31:00.001+09:00

At around 1:40.

This animation is going to be GOOD. I can feel it.

um... wtf?! - Round 2

2009-11-02T13:28:00.004+09:00

Why did it crack?

I did minor sanding, primer, flat black, enamel gold and when I was applying the gold Gundam marker I noticed the crack.

Ugh. Now I have to break it to fix it right, sand then repaint.

Melting I can kind of understand but outright cracking of the piece?

This is how the S-Gundam should look

2009-10-31T19:31:00.002+09:00

Easily the most vicious S-Gundam I have ever seen. Done by Erix93 of course.

MG Blue Frame vs. PG Red Frame: Proportions

2009-10-31T11:04:00.004+09:00

Stolen from Sandrum.

The Red Frame looks like an old clunker next to the Blue Frame! What's with all that bulk!? At least the Blue Frame as the "anorexic" design we're used to seeing from CE suits. To be fair I'm not completely satisfied with either of them.

What does it say when the MG's have better proportions than the PG's? Hell I'd take the 1/100 proportions over the PG Red Frame's (I already have both of them though...)

And don't get me started on the PG 00 Raiser and how it's wing binders don't even move making it inferior in some ways to it's HG counterpart! Put the PERFECT back in Perfect Grade for goodness sakes. Are the day's of the quality of the PG Strike behind us? Is this the 'new' standard? I'm not impressed.

Fully Armoured XX Unicorn O Raiser Gundam?!

2009-10-29T18:33:00.001+09:00

1256771471209
Originally uploaded by sandrum

I really don't know what call this thing besides "Impressive"!

um... wtf?!

2009-10-28T23:34:00.003+09:00

Why is my airbrush spitting out cobwebs?!

That was crazy! Kinda cool actually but it's going to clog up my air filter at this rate. Hope I
didn't ruin my brush! I just got it! This was with "Mr. Color #90 - Shine Silver" Acrylic paint. Maybe I thinned it with the wrong stuff? I have lacquer and enamel thinners but no acrylic so I used the lacquer. Bad call?

Ugh. Now the trails and tribulations of a rookie airbrusher begin.

Anyway here's the current pose for my EE. I'm working on making this pose the 'standard' one. The Sinanju would make a great toy! There's so much you can do with it! Too bad I'm always concerned about the paint job and stability. Otherwise I could have even more fun with it than I do now!

Entering the Airbrush Era - Preface

2009-10-27T13:59:00.005+09:00

It hasn’t been a full 2 years since I started to take this hobby seriously. And by seriously I mean simply doing panel lines for the first time. Since that time when I first started working on the 1/100 Red Frame, I’ve learned a helluva lot and even started this blog in order to track my progress.

A short while back... near the middle of this month, I reached a turning point. Came to a crossroads so to speak. And I crossed it. I didn’t stick with what I knew and decided to do something that made sense practically and financially.

I bit the bullet and bought an airbrush.

It all started when I tried to paint my Sinanju bazooka in metallic black after priming. There was no paint left in the can. Not enough to paint even one part properly. And I said to myself that this was it. I wouldn’t spend any more money on these cans. It was a waste. A waste of space, paint, metal and probably money even though I'd thought that I was saving money.

Now I realize that as soon as you have an airbrush, the amount of money you spend on paint decreases considerably. Like almost next to nothing in comparison. You'll be using a lot more thinner though. However large amounts of thinner is much cheaper than large amounts of spray paint.

That said... I realize now that even with an airbrush you probably will need to buy the occasional can of paint and primer now and then. I painted my Sinanju with TS-40 Tamiya Metallic Black.

They don't make paint vials of that. If I wanted to stay consistent I'd have to buy another can of it... totally defeating the purpose of me buying this airbrush to begin with. The closest I could find was Mr. Color #78 Metallic Black.

I haven't tried it out yet to know if it will work or not. Either way I decided to use some left over flat black that I've had for years and also have an abundance of.

Sometimes I feel like I don't want to go through the trouble of using the airbrush and cleaning it when I can just spray the part one time with a can of spray paint and get it over and done with quick.

To each his own though right? I'm happy to at least have the option now. And the added control and creativity that an airbrush provides.

Considering all the paint like I’ve bought until now, I'd say the price has just about evened out. I have about 12 cans of paint and have already gone thought about 10 or so already, not including primers which are more expensive. At over 500 yen per can I’ve probable spent about 15000 on paint already. And that’s with me using paint semi frugally. I know for a fact that Gai Gun and ASM use paint and top coat considerably more liberally than I do.

So... I'd been to the shop earlier to buy some AM hands and aurora decals and while I was there I decided to browse the airbrushes just for the sake of doing so. I was curious.

There is no doubt that these things are expensive. I saw some set getting upwards of close to 40000 yen. That's pretty risky and intimidating for the beginning modeler who is just interested in recolouring and not much more than that. Some sets came with brushes but no AC adapter, or an adapter but no brush. Or just brushes with no compressors. I didn’t want that any of that. I wanted the whole set up so I could get off and running quickly and that's what I got and that's what I did.

I went for the simplest, most basic set-up I could find to suit the type of work I'd be doing. Recolouring. I don't need a super fine brush because I'm going to be painting flames or lightning on these things. I'm changing a grey part to blue, red to green. That type of stuff. I don't know about double action or single action or whatever, but the trigger grip looked like it was easy to use so... I didn't know anything about compressors either but it said it has a special molded body to reduce noise and that was enough for me.

But I have to admit that I did deliberate over it for some time. I must have walked around the store with all the stuff my arms for 30 minutes before I decided to just get it over with. I rationalized it by thinking that a couple hours of private tutoring will make enough money to pay for it. I can sacrifice that. Why I am such a cheap bastard! Just go for it already. No wife, no kids, decent, stable job, I've got money... so why not?!

After picking it up and using it for a while I have to say that I’m pretty happy that I did. It has given me the effects and finish that I’ve always wanted. And I realized that one of the things that got me into modeling was seeing all those finished products that had been done with airbrushes. We all know that if we want to get the most out of this hobby it’s going to result in an airbrush purchase eventually. I am no exception to this.

For the sake of archiving I'll talk about my first experience with the brush in a seperate post.

Back from Thailand

2009-10-26T22:41:00.006+09:00

Saw almost nothing Gundam related except for this.

I was in Bangkok for a couple of days on vacation. Traveling alone... man that is a tough city. Lot of people trying to scam the tourists! Be wary if you're planning on going yourself! There are 1000 ways to lose money there. Muay Thai fights were awesome though.

I've been really busy recently and haven't been able to post or work on plamo like I'd have liked. Some of you know that I had some work at NHK a while back + my regular job and then prepping and going on this short vacation... had practically no time to use my new toy! Blah.

Oh well. As some of us 'older' modelers know, sometimes like really gets in the way.

Either way I'm back and my schedule has finally opened up a bit so I'll be able to work on my models more and post a bit more often.

I've been spending a lot of time just 'testing' out some of my ideas but not actually doing any 'concrete' work. I'm kind of in an "R&D" stage right now and I'm not doing much production and manufacturing. Soon enough. I think I've got main "Sinanju Ver.2 Upgrade" concept down now. Hopefully be able to get some more stuff done before the month ends.

Let me show you one thing that I've done so far.

Hated the fact that the rifle never seemed to sit flush on the palm so I corrected that. Sanded them down flat and got rid of the little angles, grooves, valleys and whatnot that Katoki put in. Then I glued it. If you couldn't tell by now I want stability in this model. Even if I have to make permanent decisions. I mean 'go hard or go home' right? I'm happy with it though. I like knowing that the rifle isn't going to fall out of the hand now because if I'm going to do that hybrid rifle/bazooka thing I'm going to need all the stability I can get. So far I don't regret and it's been working out like I'd hoped. More on that later though. Still kicking around a couple of ideas in my head, concerning extra hands.

Mr. Bushido's Custom MS

2009-10-20T18:01:00.001+09:00

1255433410111
Originally uploaded by sandrum

THIS is what it should have looked like! Then I could have respected him!

The Time has Come...

2009-10-20T14:40:00.003+09:00

...to step into a new era.

Concerning Figure FM

2009-10-16T20:31:00.005+09:00

Go here.

http://www.figure.fm/

and somehow try to find this page by clicking through the menus.

http://www.figure.fm/page/en/fusion/all/gundam/all/all/1.html

Notice that all the articles have ZERO views.

Why are there only like 4 people posting Gundam related stuff in the 'feeds' section (and one of them is mislabeled because his content isn't even about Gundam), but when you click on the Gundam category you get a bunch of customized posts made for Figure FM?

Otaku FM was way better and everything was working fine. Why mess with a good thing? Especially a good thing that actually worked right? Oh well. Doubt I'll be using it much if it stays that way. I don't know what's going on with this system but I'm not really impressed.

On a side note, here are some pics of my Sinanju after I've started working on it again. (I know they're all practically the same but I couldn't decide which one I liked best so I just put them all up. Like shopping... If you can't decide between one or the other... Just get BOTH!)

This thing is going to be so sweet when I'm done. I can feel it. Sweeter than the way I left it in April. You just wait. I'm not all talk.

btw notice anything unusual in the last pic? Kind of obvious considering the big green arrow! haha

Sinanju Rocket Bazooka - Work Log 1

2009-10-14T14:10:00.007+09:00

I thought that I was done with this thing but it turns out that I’m not really. Not entirely at least. Admittedly I’ve done more to my Sinanju that most people have but… after seeing what the guys at the Sinanju Group Build have done, I’ve been forced to return to the Ebon Enforcer to see what and where it can be upgraded.

The first major upgrade will be to give it a new weapon. Many of you already know about the special limited edition rocket bazooka that was included with Vol. 8 of the Unicorn novels.

I bought one (or two hehe) with the intention of someday using it with my own Sinanju.

That day has come.

First let’s start with the basic construction. I’ve spent a lot of time recently working on bazookas for the 1/144 O Gundam and Odaiba Gundam. You could say that these were a couple of appetizers for this big MG size one (Literally. Extended it is as tall at the Sinanju practically.)

I spent time preparing the surface for painting which included; pre assembly, removing mould lines and removing seam lines (using the time honoured method of liquid cement, patience and sanding.)

I used 240 grit paper first and then 1200 to get the surface smooth. I'm a stickler for seamless barrels so I was pleased to no end when I saw that the barrel for this bazooka was all moulded in one piece and not in seperate halves. That said I did take the time to remove what little bit of mould lines there were.

I even went so far as to remove the mould lines from the bazooka shells and the handle. I don’t think anyone would really notice but… I would. And did.

After that primed and started to spray and that’s when I came across my first hurdle.

Everything started and stopped with this one can of paint.

More purchases

2009-10-13T21:59:00.003+09:00

Went for lunch with my co-workers and decided to stop off at a local DIY shop just because I felt like shopping that Friday afternoon (Oct. 2) since I had no classes.

Picked up a couple of things.

This stuff along with a new cutting board, and a tree. Yeah I bought a tree.

I bought two wooden triangles for 100 yen each and that long wooden stick for just under that price. I bought that mini hand router/etcher just because I thought I could use it for something later. Under 2000 yen so... whatever. The mini clips can be used for any number of things but I often use them to hold parts while I'm spraying them. Under 150 yen for those too. Yeah just bought some cheap stuff that I could use later, just for the sake of buying things and supporting the Japanese economy. Gotta get that money flowing right?

I used the wood to make a cheap stand for the Odaiba Gundam. Not really planning on doing much more with it yet. Down the road yeah but I'm just moving back and forth between projects now. I don't care much when things get done. I just want to do something.

A lot of stuff has been going on with me and plastic modelling recently but instead of making one massive post about it all I'm going to try and make many smaller posts to break it up all up just for the sake of time.

I'll tell you this much though. The way that I make models has changed forever now. More to come. In the meantime here's some Shinozaki Ai for you.

LM312V05+SD-VB03A V-Dash Gundam

2009-10-10T13:50:00.006+09:00

I'm still not done with my "Those Who Were Left Behind" series, about my Gunpla that I've left back home in Canada. Today I bring you the 1/100 HG V-Dash Gundam.

So hard to find good box art these days. Sorry couldn't find a better pic.

Technically this model is the V-Dash Gundam, but it just looks like the regular Victory here. I have the "Dash" parts but there are so many problems with this model that I just left them in the box because they don't exactly fit right anymore.

This model was given to me by someone who found it at a garage sale. Who knows who the original owner was. This was the condition that I got it in.

Also another comparison of flash vs. no flash pictures.

I'm not sure if I'll ever upgrade this thing but I kind of want to just to say that I did. I mean... what a disaster. Loose, exposed and broken joints, random parts are glued together, lame hands, uneven sticker application, gaping, dirty seams in some places, not to mention some random parts are missing. It'd take a lot of work to make this look good but... it'd be a challenge and it would be fun to try and make it into a MS that I could be proud of.

Upgrade outline: My goodness where to start. I'd seriously go back to basics on this kit and get rid of all the seam lines, intense sanding and make the surface flawless as I could for painting. Get rid of those terrible hands. Lower the visor with pla-plate or putty. Shoulders will need a lot of work. Re-work the face... There are a lot of things that I'll have to do just to get this model functional, never mind the painting part. I really don't think I'd change the colour scheme much for this. The traditional colours seem to fit. Either that I'd make the red and blue parts different shapes of green, just for the sake of being different.

Rating: 2/10. I can't do anything with it! It barely stands and it took at lot of effort just to get it into this pose! Poor guy. Even with a massive retooling he couldn't be anything more than average by virtue of his design.

I thought it might be kind of fitting to talk about this now considering the news that a Katoki version of V-Gundam is now slated for release.

Look at this thing. What do you think?

Me? Totally not feeling it. I mean all those curves! Thick in the wrong places, straight in the wrong places... What's the point of releasing this outside of appealing to the V-Gundam fans? I look at this thing and I think... boring. Blah. Maybe it's just me.

Never was a big fan of V-Gundam anyways. I hear it's a really depressing series and hated the fact that the main characters name was "Uso" which means 'lie' (as in fib) in Japanese. That and I fell asleep during the first couple episodes. Just didn't capture me. Not even a big fan of the mecha designs to be honest. It's not high on my list of Gundam series to watch.

Here's a pic of the V-Gundams evolution through the series courtesy of Dalong's message boards for all you fans though.

MS-07H8 Gouf Flight Type

2009-10-05T15:00:00.007+09:00

There are many things in life that people can be addicted to.

Booze, gambling, sex, food, drugs, cigarettes... The list is endless. I have many vices and am addicted for more than a few things.

One of those things is gunpura. I just can't stop myself from building a new one from time to time simply for the sake of building a new gunpura. I didn't do anything special. Just cut and assemble... but I tell you... seeing that assembled model, even without paint and touch ups, panel lining or seam lining or whatever... just seeing it, making and having it around is worth the 800 yen or so I paid for it.

I am addicted to gunpura and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon.

It doesn't come with that cannon in the right hand. I added that in myself.

A finshed version (check his WIP here.)

Just a pic of it that I liked.

As I was making this post, I saw the above pic and this song popped into my head.

I'll put this one here for Tonzo.

Related track from the same era. For all the lurking 'heads' out there.

Basement beats with hard rhymes... the good old days I guess.

Not planning on doing too much with Gouf right now. Just wanted to build something. This is my first non-Fed 1/144 kit and I have to say that I like it a lot. The Zeon designs just seem so much more... robust than the Fed suits. I'm going to enjoy working on this kit when the time comes. I've already kind of decided what I want to do with it but more on that at a later date. Right now I'm just going to leave it as is and go back to working on other things.

MS-08TX-N Ifreet Nacht

2009-10-03T18:56:00.003+09:00

From this month's Dengeki Hobby

Opinions?

Personally... As soon at they release a 1/144 version of this kit I'm all over it. F*** my backlog. I LOVE this thing! If Gundam's were made after the image of samurai this was definitely made after the image of ninja. Easily one of my favourite Zeon MS designs.

Poll Winners: CCA and UC 0096

2009-09-29T23:19:00.005+09:00

Not that I was really surprised. Out of 106 votes about 85% of you choice CCA/UC96 over Zeta/ZZ for best Zeon MS designs.

New poll is CCA vs. UC96. As usual I'm going to take the first 100 votes. Eventually we'll get to the best U.C. MS of all time (as voted by your peers) and I have a strong feeling I know where it's going to end up.　Anyone want to take any bets? We know it's a CCA or UC96 Zeon suit.

So here's a glimpse at the winners. All pics are from MAHQ. Props to anyone who can guess what the red MS at the bottom is (my new favourite Zeon suit).

And before you get your panties in knot about why blahblahblah wasn't included in the pics, I intentionally chose MS that you might not immediately associate with their respective eras.

But I think we all can agree that it's all about the Hobby Hi-Zaku. Stripped of weapons and made for the public, it's a "sports" mobile suit. Kinda makes you wonder how much people are paying to get one. Even if it's fictional, I am curious. I can't even hazard a guess.

Recent Work: XN Raiser swords and 3x Bazooka

2009-09-28T14:15:00.007+09:00

I've got to make at least one post this month about what I've actually been doing as far as modeling goes.

Recently in the Gundam Australia forums we've been talking about 'weapons block' in regards to the Sinanju Group Build. Weapons Block refers to the lack of motivation to complete the weapons of a kit as the main part of the project nears completion or is in fact completed.

I'm going in the opposite direction entirely now. I'm working solely on the weapons. And to make matters worse, these weapons are optional.

Anti-weapons block in action so to speak.

First the XN Raiser swords:

Base swords with clear pla-plate. I know. I was surprised when I first saw it too.

Drilled some holes.

Then removed the center sections.

Why did I do this?

This is why:

I loved the idea. Techically, it would make the blades lighter if this were real. Not as stable but offset by a decease in weight, increase in blade speed coupled with a superior cutting edge. Not a bad trade off. And it looks cool. So I thought why not... I'll give it a shot. And so far so good! I've done a test fitting and it looks like it'll work but there's the issue of painting. I'm still thinking of the best way but it looks like painting the easiest way will force me to give up on the seam lines, otherwise it will be a large pain the butt to keep paint off of the clear pla-plate.

No pictures of this but I did work on the edges of the blades. I removed that extra nub at the tip of the blade and sanded down the cutting edge and tip until it was actually sharp.

I still want to do a bit of putty work to remove some of the small mistakes I made while I was removing all that plastic, but I'm worried that my basic putty will weaken the plastic too much. I don't think epoxy will really be effective for the small amount of puttying I want to do. Dilemas.

For now my main effort of going into the 3x 1/144 bazookas:

We've got a 360mm, 380mm and 400mm. One from my Powered GM, one from the Odaiba Gundam and the last is from a Kotobukiya weapons set.

Special effort went into eliminating the seam lines for these.

The outcome was acceptable. Not perfect but pretty good.

Nothing better than erasing a seam line from existence!

I sanded them pretty hard with 240 grit paper. I like having a bit of a rougher surface before I prime and I wanted to get a bit of texture.

Primed with Mr. Base White 1000 (Mr. White Base? Amuro? Bright? What?) then sprayed with Gundam White (paint ran out just as I finished the 3rd bazooka. Awesome timing.) I thought that the resulting white was a bit too 'cold' so I did a light coat of "Racing White" on top of that to make the white a bit softer.

These weapons will be used by the Odaiba Gundam and the O Gundam so while the white I've achieved doesnt watch the armour completely, it is a close approximation. All things considered.

I've already hand painted the non barrel parts in gun mental. Should have done some masking but who can be bothered. That **** takes a lot of time!

So I'm getting there! Slowly but surely. I've given up on trying complete things at fast paces. Life just gets in the way too much. But I'm still working! Still plugging away just at my own pace, such as it is.

That's all for now but I want to leave Gundam Guy a present.

Mr. Mark Setter & Mr. Mark Softer

2009-09-27T07:10:00.003+09:00

Sounds like the names of real people. "Mr. Mark Setter and Mr. Mark Softer, please come to the office."

Anyways...

It was a nice day yesterday so I decide to ride around on my scooter and enjoy the weather a bit. Went across town to the 'real' hobby shop (Tokyo folks, it's like the Yellow Submarine of Nagoya) and was looking at some AM parts. I've picked up quite a few over the last couple months because I just pick up things that I think look cool regardless of if I need them or not. It's a never a NEED really. More of a WANT. And they're cheap so I can justify buying an extra weapon or 'detail up' part.

This is what I bought today.

Never actually used either of these two solutions before. Can anyone give me advice or direct me to a site that talks about it?

I imagine that it works like the name implies, but are both really necessary? Like couldn't I just use one or the other? I'm under the impression that the softer just melts the decal into place, and the setter keeps it from moving around. Not sure though. It was cheap so I bought both just to try them out. That night I spent more money on a half pint of Guinness than I did on these two solutions.

I didn't think that Aurora stickers would be so expensive (I was expecting to pay under 400 yen) but most of the versions I saw where around 600. I settled on a pack that didn't really give you a lot but were of fairly decently quality and colour effect. Not sure when and how I'm going to use them but... I like having the option. Was also looking at AM thrusters as well but... no... not yet. Those were a bit more expensive than I thought they'd be too.

The metal plate detail part is just to fill in some of the gaps that plastic models have occasionally. Like on the back of the skirt armour or the inside of the shoulder or something.

Extra 1/144 hands just in case. Not that impressed with the stock ones that came with the Odaiba and 0 Gundam. Can't have enough hands. Especially with all the weapons I have for my 1/144's to use.

So there's a peek into my Gundam shopping habits. I buy cheap, random stuff that I don't really need or know how to use with the intention of learning how to use it someday just in case I ever want to kick it up a notch. Although that day I was EXTREMELY close to buying an airbrush set just on impulse. Decided against it. I'm going to do a bit more research before I pick one up but I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be moving into the 'airbrush' zone sooner than later. Specifically after I pay the rent this month. I've spent enough money on spray paints to warrant the cost of getting one. Not to mention I hate all the waste. I mean you're using a big cloud of paint just to paint one small part and you have to do it multiple times to get a good finish. Not to mention aerosol cans and the environment and blah blah blah. Also... really want to try shadowing techniques. There are a bunch of reasons why I think I'm going to get an airbrush soon.

Alright. I'm going to stop here before I digress any further. Been thinking about Gundam stuff a lot recently. More than usual. Looking at the work I've been doing this month, I think I've kicked the meticulousness up a bit too. Spend more time, looking at more details. It's a fun hobby!

Master Kawaguchi DVD - Torrent file / War Machine

2009-09-20T09:53:00.006+09:00

Just a small post saying that I've made a torrent of the Dengeki Hobby - Master Kawamura's Way of Gunpura DVD that I put on YouTube earlier this year in June. You can download the torrent link here.

I tried uploading it to a torrent search engine but failed (for some reasons... I have no idea what happened really. It seemed OK but wasn't really.) So you can all just get it here.

If it doesn't work out, let me know and I'll try to sort it out.

The video itself is a large .avi file. Over 500mb and it's a direct DVD rip of the disc I have. Not sure why it's so large since it's only 60 minutes and it's not like the quality is that great but still... If you want it, it's available.

In non Gundam related news (but similar mecha walking tank kinda way) I wanted to show a pic of the comic that I've been reading a lot of recently.

War Machine has got to be one of my favourite characters ever. I've liked the suit since day one and I've read every comic book with War Machine in the title and that has Jim Rhodes as the main character. The newest version has great covers but the inside art isn't that great. They redesigned the character so that he can integrate with any kind of technology. For example he can take the parts of a plane and add them to his armour, or a tank or missiles that have been shot at him. Very cool. I'm enjoying the tech aspect to it but it is pretty far fetched sometimes. I could write it better.

I am big Iron Man fan but I enjoy reading War Machine because it's a different take on Iron Man. Jim isn't as smart or as much of a playboy but he's a soldier. The War Machine armour and the Iron Man armour are quite different and it makes for a interesting comparison at times. However from a design standpoint... I like this one the best. It has got to be my absolute favourite mecha 'suit'.